Real Madrid have only been able to win six of the eleven games played this season. For the rest, they have been two draws and three defeats. The Mestalla was especially painful, with three designated penalties and some arbitration controversy. But beyond that, he has done set off alarms at the club, which these days of hiatus due to the FIFA Virus is dedicated to making a global diagnosis of the situation to fix the problems. Everything, with an eye on the resumption of the competition, in which Real Madrid faces four substantial outings: Villarreal, Inter, Shakthar and Sevilla … The team sends too many signs of weakness. The following is an X-ray of the current situation.
-The swings of Zidane.
Some of Zidane's rotations are questioned from within the club, but neither does he lose sight of what he has always done in Madrid (the famous Unit B gave some key title as the year of the historic double after 59 years). Either way, It was surprising that he gave Isco the center of the field against Valencia when Casemiro was injured, and that he left Kroos on the bench. On the other hand, it was not understood that Marcelo played when Mendy is not called up with France and has space ahead to rest. It is not the coach's first suicidal rotation this season. Against Cádiz he also put Marcelo and Isco in the eleven (he had to withdraw the latter at half-time).
-Marcelo and Isco do not raise their heads.
The problem of veteran players out of shape begins to become chronic especially in two cases, those of Marcelo and Isco. The criticisms for the Brazilian are unanimous. And the data endorse it. Zidane's team has played 57 league games since the French coach returned to the Madrid bench and has lost 9. The Brazilian started all those defeats. At the other end of the rope is Isco, who refused to leave the team this summer even though Madrid would not have frowned upon making money with him (contract ends in 2022). He has disappeared from Luis Enrique's calls. With Madrid, what was said in the stands at the Camp Nou about Zidane (“If he takes me out, he changes me in 60 'and if he has to put me in, he does so in 80') condemns him. But his performances relegate him even more: against Valencia he only recovered one ball. Modric, at 35, stole nine. There are two cases, Marcelo and Isco, of players who should be important by hierarchy and who have let themselves go.
-Asensio, Militao, Vinicius or Jovic do not appear.
Asensio's case is the one that attracts the most attention. It seems the Mallorcan installed in the idea that he outlined in an interview in 2018 and that surprised so much: “I'm not the one who has to pull the club's car, there are players who have been for many more years, much more experienced, who have a higher status mine and they are the ones who have to pull the car, “he said at the time when faced with a crisis of bad results. Well, the situation is already quite different. It is Asensio's fifth season in Madrid, he is 24 years old and it is the club's bet for the starting trident along with Benzema and Hazard… Zidane has unconditionally given him five consecutive starts without having yet responded. His case is not the only one of young people who do not start. Militao is a clear example, a transfer of 50 million that shows deficiencies when he does not play with Ramos and that is not an alternative to starting. Neither Vinicius (45 million), intermittent in his performances and erratic in the final meters. Not even Rodrygo (40 million), despite his saving goal against Inter, he seems to make the jump clearly or improve what may be in the quarry. What of Jovic (60 million) is even X-file. From scoring 27 goals for Eintracht before signing just two for Madrid in his first season in white.
-The defense is crumbling.
“Goals scored and conceded by Real Madrid in the last 11 games of last season: 19 and 7. Goals scored and conceded by Real Madrid in the first 11 games of the current season: 21 and 16. The team scores the same goals. Grant more than double. There is everything ”, the reflection is from the statesman Mr. Chip and clearly explains the ills of Madrid. There are now seven consecutive games in which Madrid have seen their goal punctured. He conquered the last League after keeping his door to zero, for example, in 6 of the 11 games that were played post-lockdown. The same few goals are scored, but the team concedes many more. Varane, since his failure against City, seems to be the victim of a kind of evil eye: he has scored two own goals in his last five games with Real Madrid in all competitions, as many as in his previous 324 with the team White.
-Casemiro without a substitute and Benzema without pressure.
Real Madrid has two fundamental shortcomings in its current squad. The first and most painful, that there is no natural replacement for Casemiro. The second, that if there is a nine substitute (well, two, Mariano and Jovic), but that Zidane does not care because he does not trust them. Regarding Casemiro, the data speak of an evidence: the team falls without him. Before the 4-1 loss to Valencia, Zidane had twice left Casemiro on the bench and both times he had to rectify. The first was in the league debut, against Real Sociedad. With 0-0, the Brazilian entered the last 20 minutes. The second, with the worst memory for Madrid, was against Cádiz. That day Zizou also chose Isco to replace him and the team's performance was similar (due to the negative) to what was seen in Valencia: at half-time he had to rectify and replace Isco with Casemiro. It was late: Madrid lost 0-1. Camavinga was willing to come this summer but Madrid couldn't sign. As for the strikers, after showing Jovic with the open market, Zidane has condemned him to the bench: against Valencia he took a few minutes with the already irreversible scoreboard, like Mariano. The team may tremble with the loss of Benzema.
JOSE JORDAN (AFP)
-Erratic transfer policy.
The club laments the bad luck that occurred with the last big investment in transfers. Madrid made a great effort two summers ago spending 298 million euros in Hazard (100), Jovic (60), Militao (50), Mendy (48) and Rodrygo (40). Of all of them it has only worked Mendy, and he is not a differential player either. It follows, therefore, that beyond the bad luck of Hazard's injuries, the transfer policy was wrong and now there is no room for maneuver.
DAVID GONZALEZ (DIARIO AS)
-No new faces since 1981.
Since 1981, Madrid has not spent a summer without making a purchase. That time the team reached the final of the European Cup. This seems difficult to repeat. The outlook is the same as last season, the incumbents do not feel a threat to their position and the substitutes know that they will continue to be and are well off. Only the Board of Directors has the answer to the absence of signings: one possibility is that they are saving to undertake the Mbappé operation and the other that Madrid is tight due to the credit it requested to reform the Bernabéu (almost 600 million to pay in 30 years). But Madrid is the only great in Europe that has not signed. Even Barça, almost bankrupt, has bought players (worth 124 million euros) after selling some (126).
realmadrid.com (DAILY AS)
-Decapitalized insole.
Madrid did not buy, but it did sell this summer. He did it for 85 million euros: 40 from Achraf, 30 from Reguilón and 15 from Óscar Rodríguez. But beyond that, the squad has been decapitalized: now Zidane looks towards the bench and, apart from them, he doesn't see footballers like Bale, James, Ceballos, Brahim … For the club it was also important to save on salary mass. With regard to what some players and others contribute, a statistic is enough: goals per minute conceded by Real Madrid in the last three editions of La Liga with Reguilón on the field: 1 goal every 140 minutes; with Mendy on the field: 1 goal every 180 minutes; with Marcelo on the field: 1 goal every 72 minutes. Reguilón is gone, he left for 30 million. Mendy came for 48. Marcelo has a contract until 2022.
Laurence Griffiths (Getty Images)